We are about Marcellus Shale in Western Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Our region has many concerned citizens who are deeply concerned about the negative effects of Marcellus Shale. On Facebook we are called Moon Township Marcellus Shale.

PA Governor Tom Corbett, or more popularly known as Tom Corrupt-bett, continues to believe that local municipalities do not have the right...

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

North East residents find voice to create ordinance to ban fracking

Hey Moon Township residents, it appears that there are ways to ban hydraulic Fracturing in Moon Township if you want it done!!!

GOERIE.COM

Reim: North East residents find voice to create ordinance to ban fracking

BY TIMOTHY P. REIMContributing writer 5-1-11

I guess many people's favorite scene from the movie "Wizard of Oz" is when Dorothy is told by the Good Witch that she has always had the power to return to Kansas.

It was just as the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion all along possessed the qualities of heart, intelligence and bravery. Dorothy and the others were liberated from their incredibly difficult struggle along the yellow brick road, and were free, should it be their desires, to fulfill their destinies.

It may be that our neighbors in North East Township are now having their own "Wizard of Oz" moment as the community debates passage of an ordinance that would ban the technique known as "hydraulic fracturing" as a method of natural gas extraction.

Enter Ben Price, projects director for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. Price has traveled to numerous communities in Pennsylvania and other states with several messages for those who want to preserve their quality of life.

Price tells people we don't have a drilling, polluting, mining problem in Pennsylvania, but a democracy problem. People's rights to enjoy clean air and water are in both our state and federal constitutions, and we need only to assert them. And that the basic premise of government relies on the consent of the governed.

Price was invited to work with a collection of business people, farmers, retired teachers and others in North East to create an ordinance that would reflect a majority of residents' desire to protect their community from the dangers posed from allowing their home to become an industrialized gas field.

Government and governing seem more of an abstraction to many people who feel intimidated and alienated from the process of democracy itself. "You can't fight City Hall" may be a well-worn cliché, yet it remains the mindset of many residents who feel they've been forced through the cattle chute of regulatory and administrative law that often yields victory for property over people.

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund works with communities spreading a message of democratic renewal that entails shedding old beliefs and ways of thinking about the roles of government, business and the law. Residents are relearning the ideals of democracy and asserting their right to decide whether they will allow select state-chartered corporations that clearly harm the local environment to operate in the community.

Powerful and wealthy business entities that wield out-sized influence paired with government are being challenged in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, Maine and other states. Citizens are asserting their governing authority and affirming that the state has no authority to license the violation of its rights.

The debate the North East community is engaged in over "hydraulic fracturing" or "fracking" may prove to have a far-reaching and profound effect on the community's future.

Residents point to their unique natural area upon which they built an economy on grapes, wineries, tourism and farming. And now it could be devastated by a contaminated water supply.

North East Township residents are building a powerful political momentum that will ultimately triumph. Tonight, beginning at 7:15 p.m. at the North East Township Building, aroused residents will be lending their names and voices by presenting petitions and packing the building at the supervisors' meeting to actively participate in the process of asserting those rights.

TIMOTHY P. REIM, the media coordinator for the environmental group Keep Erie's Environment Protected, was the Green Party nominee in the 3rd Congressional District race won by U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, a Republican from Butler, in 2010.

(http://moontownshippa.blogspot.com)

P.S."Hydraulic Fracturing Still Suspended at Chesapeake Operations"5-4-11 From The State Journal

This is what can happen as a result of Fracking gone bad. And, it did happen and can happen again and again. We as citizens are NOT protected from this industry's predatory practices they seriously affect upon a community. Remember, these corporate drilling and Fracking operators don't live in OUR community. They live somewhere else. They take the profits somewhere else. We don't get to use the natural gas that they extract from below OUR community.